White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had quite the Monday as, near the end of an otherwise lackluster briefing with little in the way of pressing exchanges, Fox’s Peter Doocy leveled some basic questions about a double standard on the border and the coronavirus that left Jean-Pierre spinning her wheels.
Having quipped that she “could have walked away” to end the briefing (as the AP’s Zeke Miller had given the hook) and Doocy’s plea that he’ll “make it worth it,” he started with simple premise in light of the U.S. Open getting underway: “How come migrants are allowed to come into this country unvaccinated but world-class tennis players are not?”
With Doocy having alluded to former world number one men’s tennis player Novak Dojokvic being unable to enter the U.S. because he’s unvaccinated, Jean-Pierre declined comment because “visa records are confidential under U.S. law” and the U.S. also can’t “comment on medical information of individual travelers.”
Jean-Pierre seemed to have thought she really threaded the needle by passing the buck to the CDC as their “requirement for foreign nationals,” but Doocy tired to keep her on subject by wondering why then can anyone walk across the southern border, regardless of their vaccination status (or any requirement for that matter).
Incredibly, Jean-Pierre claimed “that’s not how it works,” leaving an exasperated Doocy to fact-check her (click “expand”):
DOOCY: But just —
JEAN-PIERRE: So they’re two different things. They’re two —
DOOCY: — as — but —
JEAN-PIERRE: — different things.
DOOCY: — but — so, how is it two different things? Somebody unvaccinated comes over on a plane; you say that’s not okay. Somebody walks into Texas or Arizona unvaccinated; they’re allowed to stay. Why?
JEAN-PIERRE: That — but that’s not how it works.
DOOCY: That’s —
JEAN-PIERRE: Like, we actually —
DOOCY: — that’s what’s happening.
JEAN-PIERRE: — no.
Representing anyone feeling incredulous after having listened to that excuse, he called out the spin: “I know that that’s not what you guys want to happen, but that is what happ— what is happening.”
Jean-Pierre made matter even worse for herself by replying that “it’s not like somebody walks over” before stammering and leaving Doocy with an opening to forcefully reply:
That’s exactly what’s happening. Thousands of people are walking in a day. Some of them turn themselves over. Some of them are caught; tens of thousands a week are not. That is what is happening.
The hapless White House official retreated to her binder with a lengthy answer about “what we have done under this administration” with “new border technology and set up joint protocols with Mexico and Guatemala” to target human traffickers and dole out “record levels of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.”
Some Trump bashing later and again punting to the CDC because Djokovic’s situation involved “a different process,” Jean-Pierre found herself on the receiving end of another Doocy takedown: “[B]ut why is there a CDC requirement for people that fly here, as opposed to people that cross the southern border?”
Jean-Pierre invoked Title 42, but Doocy noted that this has nothing to do with Djokovic and there’s a disconnect between vaccination requirements and the push to end Title 42 on the grounds of the pandemic “not” being “a big deal anymore.”
Nonetheless, Jean-Pierre filibustered the rest of the exchange by claiming “Title 42 is very much in place, and that is the process. So there is a CDC — there is a CDC provision for folks coming through — coming through the southern border. It is not just — it is not just for tennis players.”
To see the relevant transcript from August 29's briefing (including one from FBN’s Edward Lawrence on incoming job losses due to high interest rates), click “expand.”
White House press briefing
August 29, 2022
4:03 p.m. EasternKARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I could have walked away and not taken your question, Peter, but I will take your question.
PETER DOOCY: I’ll make it worth it.
JEAN-PIERRE: I’m sure. I’m sure you will
DOOCY: Different topic.
JEAN-PIERRE: Okay.
DOOCY: How come migrants are allowed to come into this country unvaccinated but world-class tennis players are not?
JEAN-PIERRE: Are you — you’re talking about which world-class tennis player?
DOOCY: Novak Djokovic.
JEAN-PIERRE: So as far — you know, just to — just since you asked about me — about him — you asked me about him. So, visa records are confidential under U.S. law. Therefore, the U.S. government cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases. Due to privacy reasons, the U.S. government also does not comment on medical information of individual travelers. As it relates to the tennis — the tennis place [sic] — player, look, those questions regarding vaccination requirements is — is — I defer you to CDC. This is a CDC requirement for foreign nationals. This is something that they decide. This is — so, this is something that is up to them — the U.S. Open and their participant protocols. I’d refer you to them; they have their own specific protocols as well.
DOOCY: But just —
JEAN-PIERRE: So they’re two different things. They’re two —
DOOCY: — as — but —
JEAN-PIERRE: — different things.
DOOCY: — but — so, how is it two different things? Somebody unvaccinated comes over on a plane; you say that’s not okay. Somebody walks into Texas or Arizona unvaccinated; they’re allowed to stay. Why?
JEAN-PIERRE: That — but that’s not how it works.
DOOCY: That’s —
JEAN-PIERRE: Like, we actually —
DOOCY: — that’s what’s happening.
JEAN-PIERRE: — no.
DOOCY: I know that that’s not what you guys want to happen, but that is what happ— what is happening.
JEAN-PIERRE: But that’s not — it’s not like somebody walks over and — that’s not — that’s not how —
DOOCY: That’s exactly what’s happening.
JEAN-PIERRE: — we — look —
DOOCY: Thousands of people are walking in a day. Some of them turn themselves over. Some of them are caught; tens of thousands a week are not. That is what is happening.
JEAN-PIERRE: — so let me just lay out what we have done under this administration: We have installed new border technology and set up joint protocols with Mexico and Guatemala to catch more human traffickers. We have already made over 3,000 arrests in the first three months of launching an unprecedented anti-smuggling campaign with regional partners. We’ve secured record levels of funding for the Department of Homeland Security. We’ve put in place dedicated immigration judges so asylum seekers can have their cases heard faster. We’ve expanded la- — labor pathways, including H-2B visa and through the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, President Biden brought 20 leaders — world leaders together to manage increased migration flows across the Western Hemisphere. By contrast, core to the prior administration, immigration strategy was to build a wall and they couldn’t even come accomplish that in the four years and they also, by talking about building a wall — which would have taken billions of dollars from veterans, billion dollars from schools — which is also a policy that just does not work. It is not that simple. It’s not just that people are walking across — across the border. We have a — we have a plan in place. This is not like switching the lights on, right? This is going to take a process. We are fixing a broken system that was actually left by the last administration and as it relates to the tennis star, that is totally different. That is a different process. That is the U.S. Open that he is part of, and there are a CDC — federal guidance —
DOOCY: But —
JEAN-PIERRE: — that he isn’t — he needs to follow.
DOOCY: — but why is there a CDC requirement for people that fly here, as opposed to people that cross the southern border
JEAN-PIERRE: Look, we have talked about Title — we have talked about Title 42, right
DOOCY: This is not — this has nothing to do with Title 42
JEAN-PIERRE: It is.
DOOCY: This is —
JEAN-PIERRE: Title 42 is the CDC imperative that is —
DOOCY: — and you guys got rid of it because you said the pandemic is not —
JEAN-PIERRE: That’s not —
DOOCY: — a big deal anymore.
JEAN-PIERRE: That is — that is not how it works. It is not — every — Title 42 is very much in place, and that is the process. So there is a CDC — there is a CDC provision for folks coming through — coming through the southern border. It is not just — it is not just for tennis players. Migrants have, also, a CDC guidance that we have to follow, which is Title 42, so that is not the case. That is factually wrong. Okay. Go to the back. [TO LAWRENCE] Right here.
EDWARD LAWRENCE: Yeah, thanks, Karine, so the jobs numbers are coming out on Friday, so should Americans be prepared for job losses to tame inflation?
JEAN-PIERRE: So I don’t want to get ahead of what we’re going to see in a couple of days. We have talked about how we’re coming off a historic economic growth and it’s no surprise that the economy is slowing down. You’ve heard me say this, you’ve heard Brian Deese say this, you’ve heard others from NEC sl- — say this: slowing down as — as we’re going into a transition — right? — again, from a historic — from a historic economy to now a more stable and steady growth and that is important. We see that as an important — as an important next step and so — and we’ve talked about how we’re — as the — as we see the job growth numbers, we’re expecting that to cool off just — just a bit as we’re going into that transition, making sure we do not lose the gains that we have seen this past year and right now, we’re still seeing a strong labor market, which matters. Consumer spending is strong, which matters and — and so, we’re going to always look at every economic data. That’s going to be very important as we move forward and continue to try and deliver lower costs in particular, which is so important at this time for the American people, but I’m not going to get ahead of the numbers, but we have talked about how we’re expecting to see a bit of a cooling as we go into a transition to more stable growth.
LAWRENCE: So, in that transition then, you’re expecting job losses by the end of the year?
JEAN-PIERRE: I’m just not going — we’ve talked about how we anticipate a cooling — right — for the job numbers to — to not be at the — at the high job growth that we have seen these past several months. That is something that we have talked about many times. Any time you all ask me about what we expect for jobs numbers, we always talk about “we expect a cooling,” especially as we’re in a transition for a stable and steady growth and that is something that is important as we’re looking at the resiliency of our economy.
